Method of treating carbon and apparatus therefor.



W. A. SMITH. METHOD or TRBATING oARBoN AND APPARATUS THBBEFOR.

APPLIOATIQI FILED KAY 23, 1912.

Patented July 29, 191-3.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

WILLIAM AcHEsoNsMITH, or NIAGARA FALLS; NEW YORK; AssI'GNioR- Tri-INTERNA: TIONAL AoHEsoNrGn-APHITE coMrANY, or NIAGARA FALLS; NEwYcRKy-*A com Speccation (sf-Letters ?a'tent.-

Patented aulyz'e, '19 r3.

Application led May.23, 1912. Serial N ci 699,313.

T 0 all whommay concern:

Be it known that I, W1LLIAM-AcHEsoN- SMITH, a citizen of the United States, resid-- ing at Niagara Falls,-in the county Iof Ni. agara and State of'New'York, have inventedy certain -new l.and-i usefulImprovement-s 'in Methods of vTrieatingv Carbon and Apparatus Therefor,1of whichthe following is-.a specie fication. i

This invention relates. to' methods oftreatl' ing ca rbonorfcarbo-naceous material for the purpose of. converting itnin-` a progressive-or lsubstantially continuous v manner :into- -a 'homogeneous, uniform, commercial product;`

and to electric furnaces suitable /for use carrying out such methodsrI f As 1s welllrnown, such commercial-forms of carbonl als-petroleumA coke; gas '.coke,fan- ,thraclte coal-wand ithe like undergo when heated a series ofy successive mod1f1cat1ons,f`

dependent .not only :upon :the temperature to which they are heated.=but upon the durationv` of the heat ,.treatment, withoutfhowever dergoing any marked change of bulkisueh asf:

is characteristic of most metallurgicalv orre# A ducing operations.I Forsexample, Inode-rate heating, or heating for a brief period to a high temperature, results in the expulsion of thefvolatile hydrocarbons; by longer heat.- ing at sufficient temperatures the less volatile impurities are driven oh', andthe carbon unas to result in a practically uniform treatmen-t of all particles traversing the furnace.

According to the present inventionthe' body ofl carbon or carbonaceous material to be treated is moved progressively through aheating zone established by causing induced currents of electricity of suitable amperage to traverse' the body ofthe carbonacecus charge, or .an appropriate resister in contact vwith the charge, preferably ,but -not neces- 'sarily ina direction substantiallytransverse tothe direction of-movement of the charge.

By proceeding inthis manner 4itis-possible fto`secure a practically uniform heating of the entire: cross-section' of the chargel 'fOne cordingf toithe results desired. t

Feria l-flrll understanding" of the invention, reference is made tothe accompanying drawor more heating zones-may be provided fac` f 'ings illustrating a novel andpreferred form foffurnacewhich may-be used for carrying `the invention into effect, -it being understood `vlfio'vvevw-ir,that the .method-may. be practised Withthe aid offurnaces of otherform than that .herein-shown."

In said drawings- Iiigure 1 is a central ver- -tical section of the lower portion ofthe shaftffurnaceillustrating my invention; and Fig.4 2 is atransverse section thereof on" l1ne .n n of Fig. 1.

In said drawings, 1 represents an annular furnace chamberlinclosed'by highly, refractorywalls t2, 8,1andecontaining the carbonahl ceousj char-gea;` as for @example -petroleum coke. .As illustrated, the outer wall 2 1s provided with an annular combustion space the surrounding air and with the heating chamber 1, respectively, the construction being suchthatthe gaseous or volatile products liberated'within kthe furnace chamber may be burned lin this combustion chamber for the purpose of preheating the charge and maintaining a proper temperature thereof. A coil 8 for water or other cooling medium is located in the lower. portion of the heating chamber, below the heating zone, andserves to cool the charge below its temperature ofl combustion in air before the same is delivered to the discharge passages 9. These passages are controlled by gates 10, or'any suitable mechanism is provided whereby 'the 5, communicating by inclined ducts 6,7 with .shown as arranged adjacent this zone, al-

though it is to be understood that they'may be extended upwardly therefrom as far as may be desired', or even to the top of the shaft.

It will be understood that the primary Winding, and also the core, may be arranged in any manner to secure the effect desired, that is to say the substantially even heating of the charge throughout its entire section by means of induced currents of electricity. It is also to be understood that a permanent secondary circuit may be provided if desired; thus for eXample,'a carbon or graphite ring or band constituting the secondary circuit may be disposed either in or adjacent the Walls of the heating chamber, or Within the body of the charge. Thus the furnace may be adapted to the treatment of charges varying Wldely in their electrical conductivity.

I claim:

l. The method of treating carbon to prepare therefrom a commercially uniform product, Which consists in .subjecting the `oluced electric current through a body of' carbonaceous material, and advancing said body in a direction substantially transverse to the lines of 'current flow.

4;. An electric shaft furnace having `an annular heating chamber and a botto-m dis-` charge, and means located in the path of the advancing charge for subjecting the same to heat developed by induced electric currents.'

5. An elect-ric shaft furnace having an annular heating chamber and a bottom discharge, and means located in the path of the advancing charge for causing induced electric currents. to traverse the body of said charge.

6. An electric shaft furnace having means for advancing a charge therethrough, and means `for subjecting said advancing charge to heat developed by induced electric currents. l -In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

WM. ACHESON SMITH.

Vitnesses:

FRANK N. Con, ALBERT S. KNIGHT. 

